Monday, October 24, 2011

I don't remember what time we got to the convention on Sunday. I'm going to guess around 1 or 2, I'm not sure, this is what I get for waiting so long to write this shit up. Leonard Nimoy's last panel was at 3 or 4 and his photoshoot was to be immediately after, so I know we got there before then. Cathy also had to run a 5K that morning so I know we didn't get there before noon. Whatever.

First order of business was get our picture with Frakes and Spiner signed. They were so sweet, and talked to us so long. And, of course, amused us by flirting with us. The best moment, for me, was when Brent Spiner said to me, "Kyle, you could make me so happy." Oh baby, you know I would. Also that he's come to this convention because he loves Chicago but then he never makes it into the city. We told him he should just take a cab out. "Can I stay at your house?" Oh yes. You can stay in my bed baby.

After all that we went and fangirled while waiting for Leonard Nimoy's panel to begin. They started his panel off by playing this video. Nimoy came out and gave a great history of his career and amazing, encouraging speech. At the end we all stood and held signs we had been given by staff that said "We love you Leonard. Live Long and Prosper." After his panel I went and slipped my number to Brent because I'm a weirdo like that. The line for his pictures was huge, but went really fast. It was basically in and out, very little chatting if any at all for most people.

You jelly?

The pictures wouldn't be printed for a while so we went to get dinner and some beers at the Ram Brewery down the street. On the way there Brent ended up calling me (not from his phone of course) and amused me a bit. We tried to get him and Frakes to join us for beers to no avail.

There wasn't much left to do but pick up our picture, get the digital copies of them on a disc and then head home. While waiting in line for the digital copy we met a girl who had come all the way from Pennsylvania AND had been to the convention in Vegas the month before. She pretty much convinced us that we need to go to the Vegas convention next year.

Friday, October 14, 2011

A couple weekends ago my roommate, Cathy, and I went to the Creation Entertainment Star Trek Convention in Chicago. This was Leonard Nimoy's last convention appearance and it was sold out.

Luckily, we had bought tickets early, before the news of it being his last broke. We bought them basically right after we got home from Wizard World Chicago Comic Con since we were on a convention high.

We skipped the part of the convention on Friday night so that we could have a relaxing evening with some booze. Cathy also had a thing for school the next morning so we didn't want to go out.

We both ended up slightly hungover anyway though.

Our goal was to get to the convention around 12 or 1 on Saturday since there didn't seem like many panels or things to do before then. And we were hungover. After Cathy got back from her school thing we got some breakfast (and a little hair of the dog) some coffees to go and were on our way!

Before we left we saw online that the picture tickets with Nimoy had sold out, and we were absolutely devastated. But, when we got there, they had extras! Best. News. Ever. We (mostly Cathy since she is a huge Original Series and Spock fan) would have cried if we had lost our last chance to get a picture with Leonard Nimoy.

We bought tickets to get our picture on Sunday with Nimoy and then got a ticket to get our picture with Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes, which the photos were being taken at that moment!

The line was downstairs in the hotel and wasn't all that long. We waited and waited and soon it was almost our turn! We were thinking of what to say to them the whole way and then when we finally got up to them...we couldn't think of words. I've had a crush on these two men (mostly Brent Spiner though) since I was a kid, since I was at least 8 years old and saw Star Trek: First Contact with my dad in the theater. All I could muster was a really weak "hi" and a "bye" and I think maybe a "yeah" in there. How embarrassing. We realized after we walked out of the photo room how pathetic we had been.

And then we fangirled a little and squee'd.

Afterwards we wandered around the vendor area for a bit and then grabbed a seat in the main panel room to wait for the Frakes and Spiner panel. The panel was absolutely hilarious. They both sang a bit, answered some fan questions and Brent did his infamous Patrick Stewart impression. These two are two incredibly amazing, talented and entertaining men, especially when together. After that was over it was time to get our photo!

We were both so happy with the picture. Since it was taken by a professional photographer we had been slightly worried about how it would come out since you don't get to see it until it's printed. It's perfect.

There wasn't much else to do except buy cool things and, since everyone had just gotten their photo prints, the autograph lines for Brent and Jonathan were incredibly long. We checked the schedule and decided we would get our print signed the next day and went to get some brews and pizza at the Giordano's down the street.

And then we fangirl squee'd all the way home, while also rocking out to some Boston.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

I know I've complained about your service before, but I just couldn't help but share how completely contradictory your policies are.
Little over a week ago you were set to deliver my new, $1200 laptop. I figured, from our past dealings, that you would just leave me a doortag and I'd have to wait an extra day or two. But on my walk home that day I saw your truck! And I ran to catch it before the driver took off."Did you have a package for this address?""Yeah I left it on the porch."You left my twelve hundred fucking dollar laptop on my porch? I mean yeah, I live in a pretty safe neighborhood and it would have been convenient had I actually missed your delivery, but really? $1200 item left on my fucking porch?A few days later I ordered some cat food on Amazon for my cat because:1. The pet store is far and I'm lazy.2. It was cheaper and free 2-day shipping woo!Guess what I came home to find a UPS doortag on the door for, two days later?Fuck you, UPS.

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